


Mixing Traditions

by tinyko



Series: Mass Effect Self Insert Adventures [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Fluff, Gay, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Self-Insert, but not a lot, lots of head canons, theres a small bit of angst, turian traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 17:58:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10667865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyko/pseuds/tinyko
Summary: After the Destroy ending- Shepard didn't survive, Garrus and (self insert) live on the rebuilt Citadel, trying to continue their lives. Garrus blurts something out one night.Edited 1/7/18 to make it better.





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> ayo, its gay and its a self insert whats new

"Leo, marry me."

The young man blinks, the pen in his hand drooping as he looks over to the turian leaning against the counter, his chin in his hand, gazing at the other.

"What?"

"What?"

Leo puts the papers on the table and walks over to the nervous man, the turian's eyes darting around and his mandibles clicking erratically. Leo gently grabs Garrus' hands to bring his full attention down to the tiny man.

"You... want to marry me?"

Garrus looks around, seemingly trying to find where else to look other than Leo, "Well, yes. I don't know about human traditions, I can research them, and we can follow them. I only know turian traditions, wh-"

Leo laughs softly, interrupting Garrus, "I would love to, Garrus Vakarian."

"You what?"

Leo's face is red, his cheeks hot and burning, his eyes gazing into Garrus'. Garrus takes a breath. He hardly ever gives full eye contact, a thing with his anxiety and autism, as Leo had explained long ago. Seeing his big, brown eyes fully sent a jolt through his body.

"I..." Garrus can see him deflate, "I would... love to marry you. With whichever traditions. Hell, let's do both."

With a turian smile, Garrus wraps his arms around Leo's waist and swing him around, letting out a loud, deep laugh. Leo clings to the turian's neck, laughing with him. They stand like that for a while, each not wanting to leave the other's embrace.

 

Leo sits on the bed, crisscross, his knees bouncing, in just a sports bra and some lounge shorts. Part of turian proposals was to paint the clan marks of the one proposing on the other's face. Garrus rummages through the adjoined bathroom, looking for his blue paint.

"Are you sure about this? The paint's not 100% permanent, but it's hell to get off if you try to, and that's on our plates. I can't imagine what it'll be like on your soft, squishy human skin." Garrus says, walking into the bedroom with the paint in one hand and a brush in the other.

"As long as it's not dextro based, I should be fine. I want to do this, Garrus." Leo gives the other a bright smile.

Garrus sits across from the human and grabs his hips, sliding him closer, "We do have a couple more steps after. I need to get ah, blessing from your parents and my family. Both of which..."

Leo wraps his small hand, with its too many fingers, around Garrus' large hand, with too few fingers, "We'll make this work. Could get a parent figure for me? Zaeed totally acted like a father towards me, he seemed to get attached to me and I definitely view his as a father-figure . Jane... was the only other person that was family like to me."

"Yes... yes, that would work just fine. It's my dad I'm worried about. I... I know he doesn't mind humans, but how will he act when I wish to marry one. He and I already are a little... rocky, after I left C-SEC. I like to believe we've smoothed things over."

Leo squeezes his hand, "Don't worry. It'll be fine. I'll be there with you when you ask."

Garrus clicks his mandibles and leans his forehead against Leo's. Moving back, he picks up the paint brush, "Alright, let's do this."

Leo closes his eyes. He jumps a little at the first touch, Garrus jerking the brush back, "Are you ok?"

"It's colder than I expected," Leo smiles, "I'm good."

He hears Garrus' laugh again and the brush touches his cheek again.

"So, Garrus..."

"Shush, don't move too much."

"What last names should we choose? Garrus Thompson doesn't sound that great. Leonardo Vakarian, however..."

Garrus chokes.

"Thompson is also Rich's last name, it would be nice to get rid of it, too."

The brush hesitates, Garrus pausing. The young man hardly talked of his father, and when he did, it was always in a negative way. His father had left him and his mother when he was a teenager, and caused a lot of heartache. Leo had told him that he had almost attempted suicide because of it all. Garrus starts painting again.

"Leonardo Vakarian it is."

Leo started to move his fingers, lifting one at a time, "It has eight letters! In... in my language anyway," Leo trails off with a small laugh.

"Oh?"

"My current last name is eight letters and my first name and middle name are eight letters too, so its perfectly even. Your last name is eight letters so it'll stay the same amount of letters."

"Human languages are weird. Turn you head a little." Garrus prods Leo's head gently to get the smaller to turn.

"You're pretty good at this. I mean, I imagine you would be, having to reapply it every so often, but still."

Garrus rumbles a laugh, "I actually wanted to paint. If there had been Grissom Academy for turians, I would have learnt how to paint."

Leo bites his lip to stop from grinning, "Love, I'm an art teacher. I majored in illustration, but I've been taught painting before, I'd love to teach you."

Leo feels a pressure on his forehead; Garrus' beak presses to him like a kiss to his forehead. 

"I'd love that."

A comfortable silence falls between the two. Leo feels himself relax. The paint, although still cool, is calming. This whole experience is extremely intimate. The brush moves away from the human's face.

"There."

Leo blinks his eyes open. Garrus' mandibles flick.

"You look... very ah, handsome."

Leo grabs Garrus' hand and tugs on him as he gets off the bed. The turian laughs, letting the tiny human pull him to the bathroom. With a bounce, Leo turns to the mirror, Garrus behind him with his hands on his shoulders.

The two were almost comical; a tiny human who barely stood to his turian lover's waist. The paint on their faces, however, matched perfectly.

"I did the best I could with a humans lack of mandibles."

Leo puts his hands over Garrus' on his shoulders, "It's amazing, Garrus. I love it, I love you."

The turian leans down and nuzzles Leo's neck, causing a light laugh to escape the smaller male. The human reaches a hand up and softly touches the paint, which already is completely dry. A smile dances on his lips. He turns to face his turian fiancé.

"Let's call Zaeed to plan a meet up tomorrow, and your dad tomorr-"

Leo's eyes widen, "I... I've never formally met him."

Garrus pauses, then bursts out laughing. Leo blinks at him, then lightly slaps his arm, before laughing with him. 

"Damn, well, don't worry. I've talked lots about you when my dad and I do talk."

Under the blue paint, Leo's cheeks light on fire.


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two lovers ask for their family's blessings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> includes a lot of headcanons lol

The restaurant isn't too crowded, maybe a little more than half the tables are filled. In a corner booth sit two people- Leo and Garrus. Leo bounces his knee, his nerves kicking in full gear. Even though there's not many people in, he feels like everyone in the restaurant is staring and talking bad about the fact that he has a turian's markings on his cheeks. Garrus places his hand on the human's knee and squeezes gently.

"You're ok, he has a soft spot for you. You're doing fine.,"

Leo manages a shaky smile, "Thanks. You know how I am."

The turian nuzzles his smaller lover's head, "You're doing amazing."

An asari waitress nears the table, a man following behind. Leo bites his lip and waves at Zaeed. With a grumble, the older man slides in across from the two and asks for a beer in his gruff way. The asari nods and leaves.

He looks at the younger couple, "So what do you want?"

Garrus squeezes Leo's thigh again, "I... wish to ask for your ah, blessing. To marry Leo."

Slience.

"Are you fucking with me?"

Leo shakes his head, "To turian tradition he needs my parents' permission, ah, their blessing and, well, you know. You're the closest thing to a parent I have. I've always seen you as a father figure. I don't really know why? We want to do both traditions and I had no one else, because Jane was the only other family figure I had and-"

"Leo."

The younger man stops his rambling quickly.

"You see me as a father figure?"

He nods, "My biological father was shit. He... wasn't a good person."

"God damn."

Zaeed leans back and runs his fingers through his thinning hair. The asari returns with his beer, as well as Garrus' beer and Leo's soda. Zaeed doesn't waste any time and downs half of it.

Garrus speaks up again, "I love Leo. I want to spend the rest of our lives together. To my traditions, I need your approval."

With another swig of his beer, the older human groans, "Look. If you're both happy, go for it-" His volume drops to a mutter- "I did not fucking sign up for this."

Leo simply beams, "Really?"

"Of course. You're fucking happy, aren't you? Garrus is... a good turian."

Garrus laughs, "You don't need to force yourself to compliment me."

Zaeed lets out a strained breath, "Thank god."

The smaller man relaxes into the booth, a soft smile on his face. He absentmindedly rubs a finger along the blue paint on his cheeks. The two others pick up a conversation on rigging up 'security' measures on the apartment. 

One down, one to go.

 

The two young lovers had decided to visit Palaven to formally meet Garrus' father, Castis, and his sister, Solana. As the ship approached the planet, Leo starts to fidget with his enviro-suit. Tali had helped find one to fit him since the radiation is much harsher on Palaven than anywhere Leo has been.

Garrus holds his hand, rubbing circles onto the back of the covered hand. 

"Can you hear me ok?" Leo's voice slightly echoed from the enviro-suit.

"Just fine."

"This feel really weird..." Leo laughs a little and fidgets some more.

Garrus chuckles, "Don't worry, you should be fine when we're indoors, so you can at least take off the helmet."

Over the comm, the captain alerts the passangers that they would be arriving in just a few minutes. Leo pulls his backpack over his shoulders as Garrus grabs their shared bag. While he's leaning forward, Leo bumps his forehead to Garrus'.

The world is different, Leo notices. He hadn't had the chance to see many planets during his time on the Normandy in detail, either confined to the ship, or rushing through with his life on the line. Palaven is the first world he's actually been able to see in depth.

With a bounce to his step, Leo walks out hand in hand with Garrus, his eyes wide and taking in everything he can. It's not like the Citadel in the aspect of diversity- most of the people here are turian or volus. Garrus leads him to a vehicle (what would be a taxi in his time) and gives the driver directions to his father's home. Leo sits at the window, watching the sights whiz by. Castis lives out of the city of Cipritine a ways, the drive going through some if the natural scenery of the planet, as well as the city. After the war, Palaven was rebuilt and many turian families moved back to their home planet, those including Garrus' family. It is their home after all. 

The vehicle stops at a house outside a small town. Garrus had explained to Leo prior that his father decided to move into his grandparents' old home, since the city home they had was near destroyed during the Reaper invasion. Otherwise, they would have been living in the city.

Leo steps out of the vehicle, thanking the driver softly. A turian stands outside the home and when they see Garrus come around to the human after paying the driver, they start to wave and run over. They practically leap at Garrus, wrapping their arms around his neck.

"It's so good to see you again! I missed you so much!"

Garrus laughs and hugs back, "You too, Sol. I missed you too."

Solana drops from Garrus and turns to Leo. Despite her being Garrus' little sister by several years, she still towered over the tiny male.

"You must be Leo! Come on inside, so we can get a look at you."

Garrus puts his hand on Leo's back and walks with him behind Solana, who rattles off about anything she can think of. Once inside, Leo fiddles with his helmet, trying to get it off. He huffs, annoyed at the small clasps he can't reach well.

With a chuckle, Garrus kneels down and reaches to help, "You got stuck in your own helmet? What would you do without me?"

Leo sticks his tongue out at Garrus, though he can't see it. Garrus gets the clasps quickly and gently pulls the helmet off of Leo. The human shakes his head, his black and blond hair mussed up and messy. The turian smiles and presses his beak to Leo's lips for a quick peck, before standing at his full height again and stiffens.

Castis stands at the doorway. Leo feels a cold shiver spread through his body.

"Um, hello!" Leo waves nervously.

Castis stands still, looking down at the tiny human before him. Leo notices that he's taller than Garrus, and much more intimidating.

"Hey, dad. This is Leo," Garrus places his hands on the Leo's shoulders, "The one I talked about."

Castis makes no move, Leo gets increasingly more and more nervous. Garrus can feel the tiny man's trembles.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Leo stammers out.

Castis finally moves, striding forward and raising a hand. Leo flinches, and Garrus shoots a look at his father. The older turian clasps Leo on his shoulder and his mandibles move in what Leo has come to know as a smile.

"It's nice to formally meet you too, Leo."

In Garrus' hands, the young man near deflates, letting out a trembling breath. He sends a shaky, but bright smile up to the older turian.

"I'm Castis Vakarian, if Garrus never told you. It's good to see you too, son."

Castis turns and leads them further into the house, Garrus keeping an arm around Leo, who is still a little shaken up. The two catch up, though it's obvious that Solana is much more talkative than their father. Speaking of her, the young woman pops up behind Garrus and Leo suddenly.

"Come on, dinners almost ready and you both must be tired. We got something for Leo that isn't dextro based like you asked, Gar Gar."

Leo glances up at Garrus, "Gar Gar?"

His mandibles spread, then slap tight against his mouth, "Shush."

Solana laughs, more boisterous than Garrus, but still as deep. Garrus swipes at his sister, who ducks and flicks her mandibles.

"Children, please," Castis says, exasperated.

Garrus sets the bag down, and Leo places both his backpack and his helmet next to it. Garrus leads him into a kitchen, the table already sat and Castis and Solana putting the food down.

"Here, Leo, this is for you," Solana says, putting down some food that Leo recognises.

"Thank you," Leo takes the seat, Garrus sitting down next to him.

Castis sits at the head of the table while Solana sits across from the two lovers. 

"So, what are you two doing on the Citadel?" Castis asks.

Garrus nudges Leo, the human sputters a little, "Ah, I'm an art teacher at the local highschool, and Garrus works on calibrations."

Solana seems to get excited, "Whoa, art? That's cool! What kind?"

Leo lights up at being able to talk about what he loves, "Just Art 1, so it's a bit of a mix of everything! It's what's required before going into a specific art like Drawing or Ceramics. I majored in Illustration, though."

"Oh wow! That's amazing!"

Leo blushes, his face red under the blue paint.

"So, are you going to tell us why he's wearing our paint?" Castis asks, looking towards Garrus.

Under the table, Garrus wrings his hands. Leo reaches and pulls one into his lap, rubbing soft circles into the thick skin. 

Garrus clicks his mandibles, "Leo and I... wish to marry."

Silence spreads through the room. Garrus continues.

"We've dated for years, since the end of the Reaper War. We had been... pining for each other even longer."

"Have you already asked for his family's blessings?"

Garrus shifts, "In a way. He has no family, so I asked a father figure to him. He gave it to us."

Castis hums, a low rumbling noise, coming from deep in his chest. The human gently squeezes the turian's hand, worrying his lip between his teeth. Solana glances between the two male turians, her mandibles twitching. The older turian stares Garrus down, the latter not backing down amd returning the stare. With a huff, Castis lowers his head, his mandibles forming a smile.

"You two do seem happy. I will not get in the way, Garrus. You deserve something good after all that's happened. You as well, Leo."

Garrus' shoulders drop and he releases the breath he was holding. Leo grins and bounces a little in his seat, clutching Garrus' hand in his much smaller hands. The turian gazes down lovingly at his fiancé.

A cough brings them both back to the table. Leo's cheeks light up and he drops his gaze down to his and Garrus' hands.

"Did you not expect me to give you blessings?"

Garrus rubs the back of his head, a habit he's picked up from Leo, "In all honesty, I didn't know what to expect."

"Yeah, and I hadn't talked to you much at all, only seen you in passing in video calls with Garrus. You're a lot more intimidating in person," Leo laughs nervously.

The rest of dinner passes peacefully- Solana telling embarrassing stories of Garrus, Leo laughing at those stories, Castis asking about their life. The young man felt at home and safe with the turian family.

Laying in bed that night, Leo snuggles up to the warm turian. Garrus wraps an arm around Leo, nuzzling his head. Leo wraps his arms around Garrus' middle and kisses his mandibles.

"I love you so much Garrus."

"I love you too Leo."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the best thing about writing aussies: just put fuck in every sentence and ur good


End file.
